Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, 2018, Vol. 2, No. 1, 14-20 Available online at http://pubs.sciepub.com/jsa/2/1/3 ©Science and Education Publishing DOI:10.12691/jsa-2-1-3 Home Background and Students Achievement in Mathematics Oginni O.I * Department of Science Education, Faculty of Education, Ekiti State University, Ado-Ekiti *Corresponding author: omoniyioginni@yahoo.com Abstract The study investigated the influence of home background on students’ academic achievement in Mathematics. It found out the influence of parental occupation, family size and parental motivation on students’ academic achievement in Mathematics. The study adopted descriptive research of the survey type and expost facto design. The population for this study is made up of all Basic School II students in Ado – Ekiti Local Government Area of Ekiti State. The sample of this study consists of 100 students in which 20 students were randomly selected in each of the school. The scores obtained from Mathematics examination and questionnaire were the instruments used for the study. The instruments were trial – tested on 20 students outside the study. The reliability co- efficient of 0.80 and 0.78 were obtained respectively, which was considered high enough to consider the instruments reliable. The data collected were analyzed using mean, standard deviation and t- test statistics, all at 0.05 level of significance. Keywords: home background, socio-economic, family size, academic performance Cite This Article: Oginni O.I, “Home Background and Students Achievement in Mathematics.” Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, vol. 2, no. 1 (2018): 14-20. doi: 10.12691/jsa-2-1-3. 1. Introduction Education is primarily concerned with the tools, methods and approaches that facilitate practice. It has become an area of great importance not only for government or voluntary agencies but also for individuals, families, and communities in all facets of life [1,2]. Parents who are of in more lucrative job would have more or enough fund to expand on the basic needs and academic requirement of their children, particularly in the subjects that are core in secondary education, particularly mathematics. Education is likely to provide different ways for the needs of their children and inhabit different aspects of cognitive, emotional and motivational development. Individuals in the society as well as families are different in all aspect of life; determining factors of such are the educational level, occupation and income of the family. A home environment is viewed as consequential for child developmental outcomes such as cognitive ability, school readiness, academic achievement and emotional adjustment [1] Historically, examinations of the influence of home environments on developmental outcomes have focused on distal variables as the primary measures of home experience, such as the family income, parents educational level, parents occupational status, parental involvement and parenting styles of (authoritarian, demanding and permissive parenting styles). Homes may exist in triplets [3] the non-sufficient, middle and sufficient families. What determines the stratum could be the position ones occupy, the job which one engage in his territory, the privileges and prestige receives, which in turns help to realized one’s style of life. [4,5] Types of home may also affect the performance of students in mathematics and also has a far reaching implication on child’s life and academic achievement. Home appears to have a considerable influence on the performance of students in Mathematics. Other factors such as the teachers, environment of the school setting, needed materials may be controlled if the background has the wherewithal, other factors outside home has very little role to play, since it forms the first unit of existence where a child found himself [1]. [6,7] A child from higher socio-economic background has advantages over the child from lesser status. In a higher class there may be a television sets, radio, picture, home teacher, home library, computer, reading and writing materials all of which help to prepare a child for learning in school. It is hypothesized that parents of upper classes of socio-economic have more positive attitudes towards their children’s schooling and have high expectations and standard for the children. [8] The children are given high motivations for success in school. The parents’ ability to provide books and other reading materials in order to bring about a positive attitude stimulates children to learn more. Furthermore, the upper class child eats a balance diet and belonging to a comfortable social school environment further helps home to show his best. [7] argued that the family exerts a powerful influence on the prospect capacity for development and life – chances of the young. One of the parameters through which the home background of a student is measured is the socio – economic status of the student’s family. According to [9], [10] the socio – economic status as the most powerful home characteristic that predicts students’ performance. He said further that the higher the socio – economic status